The Pita Cake From H3Ll!!! The Rantings Of A Mad(Cake)Woman
Decorating By boonenati Updated 28 Mar 2007 , 5:35am by wyatt
I totally feel for you, just one thing after another...it was slightly funny though because it was like I walked into the wrong movie theatre, I thought you meant PITA as in Ethical Treatment of Animals, so through reading the whole story I was waiting for the 'pain in the @#$' to tell you that there can't be butter or eggs in the cake..!!!! The way things were going I don't think you would have been surprised if she would have!
WOW Nati!! 
Your cakes are always soooo beautiful! I want to be half as good as you 'when I grow up' I wish I could come live with you so you could teach me all your secrets to working with gumpaste! I absolutely adore working with real modeling clay (am quite good actually 
) however, when it comes to working with gumpaste....it kicks my butt!! I end up "ok" but, man, You are TALENTED Girl!!
Excellent work on that cake!! 
absolutely gorgeous! I hope (although I know it probably didn't happen) that they truly appreciated all that hard work! WOW! You are amazing! You do computer programming too? You must have a gigantic brain - both the left and right sides are highly developed! Artistic and smart! The cake turned out fantastic - great job!
What a fantastic result. I'm driving myself mad trying to do those cigarellos and although you can by them I'm determined to do it myself, I don't wanna let it beat me! 
Any idea yet when your tutorial will be online?
Incidently, are your flowers made from paste? - if so wow!
Keep up the good work
I only read your first post and the last so you may have already answered this Nati, but after all that horrible experience did you make any money at all on this cake, or at least break even? What a nightmare. I buy the cigarellos ready made locally and they are about $40.00 per lb. box, not too bad but still expensive and it takes a ton to fill a cake. I have made my own but they are so time consuming and not always consistent, I'd much rather someone else make them and I just stick them in place on the cake. I am however fascinated with rolling chocolate paste in acetate, would you consider doing a tutorial on that method someday? I did notice instantly when I saw your cake photo, that these cigarellos were larger in diameter and not as tightly rolled, loved the look. The cake was gorgeous as well.
What a fantastic result. I'm driving myself mad trying to do those cigarellos and although you can by them I'm determined to do it myself, I don't wanna let it beat me!
Any idea yet when your tutorial will be online?
Incidently, are your flowers made from paste? - if so wow!
Keep up the good work
Wow, I can't believe i missed these posts, sorry notmymum, i am going to have the tute ready on my instructions webpage possibly next week. Miss Fran (franjmc) is coming to help me out with it on the w/end : )
The flowers are made with gumpaste, they took ages to do as they have heaps of petals each and each is wired individually, phew!!
I only read your first post and the last so you may have already answered this Nati, but after all that horrible experience did you make any money at all on this cake, or at least break even? What a nightmare. I buy the cigarellos ready made locally and they are about $40.00 per lb. box, not too bad but still expensive and it takes a ton to fill a cake. I have made my own but they are so time consuming and not always consistent, I'd much rather someone else make them and I just stick them in place on the cake. I am however fascinated with rolling chocolate paste in acetate, would you consider doing a tutorial on that method someday? I did notice instantly when I saw your cake photo, that these cigarellos were larger in diameter and not as tightly rolled, loved the look. The cake was gorgeous as well.
Shirley
You know what? I never worked it out, but im pretty sure i still made about AU$200 on it. I will work that out soon and let you know.
I found the same as you with doing my own cigarellos that they are not consistent and it's very fiddly to work with, as the choc is very tempermental. The rolls were made with melted chocolate, i had tried the choc paste and that didnt work.
anyway the tute is coming
Nati
Just read your original post and then viewed the tutorial page. What a nightmare cake that was for you to make! But you conquered the task and all ended up well for you and the cake looks superb.
Thanks for the tutorial on making the chocolate cigarettes!
I'm sorry this cake stressed you out, but it is beyond beautiful!!!
Well with the money you earned on this, I hope you went and spent it on something special for yourself!
WOW! How cool. Thanks for sharing the How To. I wonder how these will hold up in hot weather?? It can get over 100 degrees here in the summer. Do they melt easily?
Im not too sure, i suppose it depends greatly on the chocolate you use. I use Callebaut, and had the cake in the fridge before i went to deliver it, had my air con full blast as i was delivering, and it was inside the airconditioned reception in no time. I dont think it would hold up very well without air con etc.
cheers
Nati
PS: it was pretty hot on the day of delivery, it was in the middle of summer here
WOW! How cool. Thanks for sharing the How To. I wonder how these will hold up in hot weather?? It can get over 100 degrees here in the summer. Do they melt easily?
Im not too sure, i suppose it depends greatly on the chocolate you use. I use Callebaut, and had the cake in the fridge before i went to deliver it, had my air con full blast as i was delivering, and it was inside the airconditioned reception in no time. I dont think it would hold up very well without air con etc.
cheers
Nati
PS: it was pretty hot on the day of delivery, it was in the middle of summer here
Thanks! I guess I would have to pray to the air conditioner gods before delivery! HA HA
absolutely gorgeous! I hope (although I know it probably didn't happen) that they truly appreciated all that hard work! .....
You know what??? I only did two wedding cakes in Feb, the first was a cupcake tower, the second was this one. The cupcake tower customer rang me the following week to tell me how thrilled and greatful they were, then came last week to have a cuppa with me and show me the wedding photos, sooo sooooo nice, the PITA i never heard from, which reminds me, when I dropped off the cake at the reception, i actually left them the drop sheet, the green material to decorate the table, i also left them a self addressed STAMPED envelope so they could return it to me, and 4 weeks later i still havent got it back
Oh well, what else could i have expected
Nati
Fantastic tutorial. I've tried it and it really is THAT easy. My "cigarellos" have come out great. I'm gonna throw out the wallpaper scraper - I aint trying that again. Thanks Nati, I'll send you my results.
HAHAHAHAHA
yep the scraper is much more trouble than it's worth. Im never going to take up that method again either . THIS is soooo much easier
and a LOT less messy too, plus you dont need to re-melt the chocolate so many times either.
Can't wait to see your results, so happy it worked out for you
cheers Nati
Nati
Sorry you didn't get the picture. I've attached one below, sorry the quality's not great but you get the idea!(a better picture is at http://www.cakecentral.com/cake-photo-307933.html.
I wasn't bothered about the sizes at this stage, just the technique.
The one on the left is just white chocolate, the middle is white chocolate mixed with multi coloured sprinkles (hundreds and thousands we call them) and the one on the right is a copy of your marbled effect cigarettes.
By the way, I found it less tricky to put the sticky tape on the acetate before spreading the chocolate on though.
Thanks a million
Thanks for the instructions. I was able to use an acetate collar which is 4" wide so only had to cut across every 2". I hate using chocolate too. I always make a mess and avoid it whenever possible. Thanks so much for posting this great alternative.
mary-ann
Fantastic tutorial. I've tried it and it really is THAT easy. My "cigarellos" have come out great. I'm gonna throw out the wallpaper scraper - I aint trying that again. Thanks Nati, I'll send you my results.
dont throw it out, just dont use it for chocolate anymore. those are great for icing the sides of the cakes!
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